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Social Media Newsfeed: Surprise: Twitter Files IPO | Flickr Outage

Twitter Quietly Files IPO (SocialTimes)
The announcement came via tweet Thursday on Twitter’s official account: “We’ve confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale,” the post reads. The filing followed closely on the heels of an acquisition of mobile advertising exchange MoPub for $ 350 million in stock; a move that could make Twitter a real competitor in social media advertising. AllTwitter Companies that choose to file confidentially must meet specific criteria, one of which is annual revenue of less than $ 1 billion. Which, of course, is exactly where Twitter is circa 2013. Bloomberg A public listing marks a watershed moment in Twitter’s journey from its 2006 beginning as a way for Web users to publish short messages, to a megaphone for hundreds of millions of members worldwide to join conversations on global affairs, sports and entertainment. CEO Dick Costolo will need to convince investors that the offering will fare better than Internet IPOs from Facebook, Groupon and Zynga, which all lost more than half their value within six months of their listings. The Wall Street Journal Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter on the planned initial stock sale, people familiar with the matter said. One person familiar with the matter said other banks are expected to join Goldman in managing what is likely to be one of the highest-profile IPOs since Facebook went public in the spring of last year. A Twitter spokesman declined to comment. USA Today Investors looking to buy into the much-anticipated IPO of Twitter are going to have some waiting to do before seeing if there will be any shares for them. Details are still scarce on the initial public offering of Twitter, since the company has only provided its registration privately to the Securities and Exchange Commission. AllFacebook Zuckerberg offered some cautionary advice Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2013 for Twitter when and if the microblogging site decided to go public: “I’m kind of like the person you would want to ask least about how to make a smooth IPO. As long as they (Twitter) kind of focus on what they are doing, then I think it’s wonderful.” Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook’s first year trading as a public company was “turbulent.”

Yahoo: Miss Flickr During the Outage? Try Tumblr! (CNET)
Trying to make lemons out of lemonade during an eight-hour Flickr outage, Yahoo tried to rally its fans to engage on Twitter and Tumblr instead. The photo-sharing site planned an outage from 9 p.m. PT Thursday to about 5 a.m. PT today, publishing its traditional “bad panda” outage notice. In the meantime, Yahoo fired up the WhileFlickrIsDown Tumblr and the #WhileFlickrIsDown hashtag on Twitter.

Woman Drives Car into Lake While Texting (AppNewser)
We’ve all been told that texting and driving is dangerous, but there are some of us who are learning the hard way. Like, this woman in Waldorf, Md. whose reckless texting made her lose control of her car and landed her in a lake.

Mote.io Turns Your Phone into a Pandora, Soundcloud and Hype Machine Remote (GigaOM)
This is neat: Mote.io, a new mobile-app-meets-Chrome-extension combination that turns your Android or iOS phone into a remote control for online video and audio streaming services. The app currently supports remote controls for Pandora, Vimeo, Soundcloud, Hypemachine, Rdio and Grooveshark, but Mote.io programmer Ian Jennings told GigaOM that he wants to add support for Spotify, Google Play Music, Slide Share and other sites over the coming weeks.

Wait Til Kanye Finds Out There’s a Job Posting for His Clothing Line on LinkedIn (BetaBeat)
We’re a little skeptical about this LinkedIn help-wanted ad purporting to be advertising the missing career link between you and Yeezus: “Opportunities like this Vice President, Production role are few and far between: you will play a key role in launching a new clothing line designed by Kanye West. The venture will be very high profile and, unlike those in which celebrities merely lend their name to a label, this venture will have the power of Mr. West’s creative genius at the heart and soul of it. In this role you will oversee all aspects of production, from pre-production to sourcing to production, building the function from square one. In addition to interacting with Mr. West, you will join a team that has deep experience and track records of success in the industry.”

How Zynga Went from Social Gaming Powerhouse to Has-Been (ars technica)
In interviews with current and former Zynga employees, a picture emerges of a firm that underwent an astonishing rise but soon found itself sagging under the weight of over-management, missed opportunities, and the lack of a real long-term vision. Zynga declined to make any executives available for this story, only sending ars a transcript of the company’s most recent earnings call.